Lighthearted
by eva-david
Summary: There was something different about him when she was around. A Slibbs fanfic, not much to it yet and not planned out for future chapters other than it will involve romance.


Lightheartedness:

adj. Not being burdened by trouble, worry, or care; happy and carefree.

-

He was smiling a lot.  
It occured to him late one Thursday night as he sat by the fire chiseling away at a piece of wood that really wasn't meant for carving. He leant down, his back cracking loudly and swept up the fallen shavings to discard them in the fireplace.

"Arhh..." he caught a splinter, and decided to toss the whole log into the flames. Leaning back he crossed his arms and tried to think.  
That morning there had been a red lollipop on his desk with a sticky note of a smiley face attatched.

He mostly enjoyed early mornings, driving the empty streets out of his neighborhood while most people were still sleeping, having the highway to himself and once he got to the navy yard seeing the first dogwalkers enjoy the riverside.  
When he arrived at work however there were always mountains of paperwork which he certainly didn't enjoy but he saw the lollipop and smiled at it. Just for a second, he was happier.

Had he known she'd be in that early he would have brought her a coffee too, but in this instance he simply brought her one later on when he could guess she'd need a refill.  
She was busy but he knew she appreciated it from the brief smile she managed to get in before continuing with her phone call.  
He had smiled again, closing the door to her office and thinking about how she could be so passionate about other peoples lives, and trying so hard to help them better themselves from what he'd overheard.

Their case had been an open-and-shut, no psychological assistance required, but they still managed to get a couple of minutes before she left for the day.  
He was sitting at his desk, engulfed in a file on one of their witnesses when she walked in, stepping right up to his desk.  
"Thank you for the coffee." She said, "And the sugar packets."

He looked up slowly, his mind still transitioning from the papers in front of him to focusing on her, when he noted she had put her gym clothes on and lingered for just a split second on the shirt that said "NCIS" in big bold letters across the chest.  
"Wanna join me?" She playfully suggested, even though he could tell she was only half serious, he did consider it for a moment. Just to hold on to the feeling of his heart being a little lighter when she was within reach.  
"No." He replied, shaking his head and pointing at Nicks desk, "you might find Torres down there though."  
She let out a short but genuine laugh and turned to walk away, "when isn't he at the gym?" reaching Ellies desk she stopped again, "You know last week they were down there together, I think she might just teach him something about his mental image of women, she's about the only one he'd listen to and she laid him flat on his back a couple of times. Something about not calling women crazy."  
He felt another burst of happiness spreading through his body and shook his head while trying not to give in to the tugging at the corners of his mouth "Yeah..." he paused, "she just might."

As she continued down the hall towards the elevator he closed the file and shoved it in his desk drawer, thinking about how he could disagree with her all he wanted, it was just never a turn off. Maybe he was getting soft from all the therapy, he thought as he scrubbed both his hands across his face, pressing on his closed eyelids gently to try and wake himself up for the drive home.  
He was spending less time at work because of her. Generally when she left he wasn't far behind, the office felt empty once she was gone, which wasn't something he was used to.

Her car was parked near the elevator as she didn't have an assigned spot and had arrived so early so he checked her door just to make sure it was locked, continuing to his truck he pondered over her californian ways, how she was far more political and left leaning than he would usually consider his own views but she didn't push them on anyone.  
She just led by example, and that was a respectable thing in his opinion. She made sense when the news articles and sexual harrassment seminars just didn't, or maybe with her he wanted it to make sense.  
Maybe since knowing what she'd been through in Afghanistan he had more of an understanding of her need to be as equal and independant as she possibly could be.

He'd seen the immediate aftermath of such an ordeal plenty of times. Even saw Ziva go through it years ago but they had had a very different relationship. And Ziva was a very different person.  
Maybe it was Sloanes shrink ways that manipulated him into compliance and understanding, though he didn't want to think of her as being manipulative around him anymore. They'd gone through those initial days suspicious of each other but soon formed a bond unlike any other he'd experienced.  
Either way he tried to stop thinking of "women" as generally being one way or another. He distinctly remembered a conversation he'd had with DiNozzo years prior about women preferring their own beds when it came to sex. He could imagine Sloane being part of that conversation and Gibbs slapping Tony, and glaring at him.

Jack was just different. She didn't answer to him, had no reason to duck her head if they disagreed. He thought he recognized that she would outrank him and therefore just didn't feel as though he needed to intimidate her, stare her down or go over her head. They could simply disagree and didn't need to crown a winner if they got into an argument. He was completely at ease around her and she seemed to be around him.  
He sat back, having relocated to the sofa and eventually reached for the remote to turn off the TV. He glanced at the coffee table to make sure his phone was nearby and settled in to sleep for a few hours before going to the office again and hoping for a quiet Friday to start off their weekend.

So of course the dispatcher called at 3 am.

-  
 _OMG I'm writing fanfic again. Please be gentle with this I just can't help myself I am so in love with Slibbs and there isn't enough Slibbs fanfic out there. So basically I stopped watching after Ziva left and have only seen season 15 since then, nothing in between. I did however rewatch old episodes which made me go off on a tangent here regarding Gibbs and his treatment of women... Sorry not sorry. I guess when I first watched seasons 1-7ish I was too young or didn't understand English enough to realize how bad he was but oh my. GibbsXwomen was no bueno. I hope this rambly mess made sense, also hoping I don't regret uploading this in the morning. Might have to reedit and reupload. Anyone wanna be my beta? Ok, see y'all next chapter!_


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